Killing Time

the room.

Taggart, also grinning because he knew damn well Mike was irritated, pushed in after him. “Whoa. Dude. Looks like you ate the whole menu up here last night.”

“Hi, guys.”

All eyes turned when Eva walked out of the bathroom, wrapped from neck to ankle in a white terry robe— and still sexier than any woman had a right to be.

“Eva.” Cooper sauntered across the room and hugged her. “How’s my favorite kick-ass road warrior?”

Mike muscled in between them. “She’s not your anything. Now what are you doing here?”

“We thought you might miss us,” Taggart said, deadpan.

“Did you get hit on the head with something? You do see her, right? Do you honestly think that I would give you knuckleheads even a passing thought when I’m alone with her?”

Cooper winked at Eva. “Well, when you frame it like that, I guess it makes us look kind of silly.” He added a Jethro laugh that broke Taggart up.

Mike shook his head. Then smiled. Then gave it up.

He had missed them. For too damn long.

These were his friends. These were his brothers.

He looked at Eva. This was the woman he loved.

He was never going to risk losing any of them ever again.

“What the hell. Let’s go get breakfast.” He pointed a finger at Taggart. “You’re buying.”

“Oh, no. We settle this like we always did.”

He reached into his hip pocket, pulled out his wallet, and produced his one-eyed jack.

“I’ll be damned.” Mike couldn’t believe he still had it.

Then Cooper whipped out his card, too.

Without a word, Mike walked over to the closet. When he came back, he was carrying his own one-eyed jack.

“To tradition.” Taggart’s sober tone spoke of all that had passed between them.

“To tradition,” Mike and Cooper echoed.

“You do the honors, chica.” Mike gathered the three battered cards together, and with great care for all they represented, all they’d been through, he shuffled them.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hand. Now pick one.”

“Whoot!” Cooper crowed when Eva held up Mike’s card. “Breakfast’s on Primetime.”

Eva gave him a grin and mouthed, “Sorry.”

Taggart pecked her on the cheek. “I think I love this woman.”

“Yeah,” Mike said taking her into his arms, “but I really, really like her.”

About Cindy Gerard

CINDY GERARD’s wildly popular Black Ops, Inc. series with Pocket Books— Show No Mercy, Take No Prisoners, Whisper No Lies, Feel the Heat, Risk No Secrets, With No Remorse, and Last Man Standing—has garnered numerous industry awards and nominations (among them the RITA, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice, Reader’s Crown, Daphne du Maurier, and Australian Romance Readers awards) and appeared on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller lists. She is also the author of the bestselling Bodyguards series and more than thirty contemporary romance novels. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, a Brittany Spaniel, two cats, and too many tropical fish, where she is hard at work on the next installment of her knockout new One-Eyed Jacks series.

Visit her website at CindyGerard.com.

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Also by Cindy Gerard

Show No Mercy

Take No Prisoners

Whisper No Lies

Feel the Heat

Risk No Secrets

With No Remorse

Last Man Standing

Worth Dying For (ebook)

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: High praise for CINDY GERARD and the scorching hunks of her bestselling BLACK OPS, INC. series!

“Exciting, taut, sexy, and just plain fun to read.”

—Sandra Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Kicks romantic adventure into high gear.”

—Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author

“A great writer… head and shoulders above most.”

—Robert Browne, author of The Paradise Prophecy

“Gerard artfully reveals the secret previously known only to wives, girlfriends, and lovers of our military special-operations warriors: These men are as wildly passionate and loving as they are watchful and stealthy. Her stories are richly colored and textured, drawing you in from page one, and not simply behind the scenes of warrior life, but into its very heart and soul.”

—William Dean A. Garner, former U.S. Army Airborne Ranger